Happy holidays everyone! This is a different episode to usual, where Alex and Sophie have a festive round-up of some of their favourite books from this year (and a few from previous years)
Was the crackling fire a bit much?
Shownotes:
Rhiannon is a columnist, feature writer, and editor for The Guardian. In 2012 she co-founded The Vagenda which was published in book form by Vintage. Her debut Novel, ‘The Tyranny of Lost Things’ was published by Sandstone Press in 2018.
Rhiannon's Book Choices:
You can follow Rhiannon on twitter @RhiannonLucyC and find out more about her on her website.
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Tasha is a SFF writer living in London. Her debut novel, the Mughal India inspired epic fantasy, ‘Empire of Sand’ came out on the 13th of November in the US and the 15th of November in the UK. Go check it out!
TASHA'S BOOK CHOICES:
You can follow Tasha on twitter @TashaDrinksTea
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Daisy’s debut short story collection ‘Fen’ came out in 2016 and made some serious waves. Now, at just 27, she’s on the Booker Prize Shortlist for her novel ‘Everything Under’. Sophie spoke with Daisy about three of the books that are important to her and her writing. (They spoke before the shortlist was announced, so please forgive there being no mention of that).
DAISY’S BOOK CHOICES:
You can follow Daisy on twitter @DJdaisyjohnson
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Aaron is the Director & Editor of Broken Sleep Books as well as the author of the poetry collection ‘Tertiary Colours’. He has two upcoming collections in 2019, ‘Angels The Size of Houses’ and ‘The Last Hundred’
Aaron's Book Choices:
You can follow Aaron on twitter @GodzillaKent
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Kirsty Logan is an author, freelance editor, and book reviewer. She is also a writing mentor for the WoMentoring Project. (Check out a previous episode with WoMentoring Founder Kerry Hudson) Her most recent book, The Gloaming, is out now.
You can follow Kirsty on twitter @KirstyLogan and visit her website for more information.
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May-Lan Tan is a British Chinese writer based in Berlin. Having studied fine art at Goldsmiths, she now works as a ghostwriter. Her collection, Things To Make and Break, was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, and is one of Alex's favourite reads of 2018.
For further discussion about Things to Make and Break, check out episode 24 with Sharlene Teo.
MAY-LAN'S BOOK CHOICES:
You can follow May-Lan Tan on twitter @amanlyant
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Hannah is a poet, memoirist and creative writing tutor. Her books include 'Chick', 'Long Time No See', and most recently, 'Chan'.
HANNAH'S'S BOOK CHOICES:
You can follow Hannah on twitter @HannaLowePoet
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Samantha Harvey is the author of four novels, the most recent of which is The Western Wind.
Her novels have been shortlisted many prizes, including the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Guardian First Book Award and the James Tait Black Prize. She won the AMI Literature Award and the Betty Trask Prize.
She lives in Bath, UK, and is a Reader in creative writing at Bath Spa University.
Sam's Book Choices:
Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
All The Names by Jose Saramago
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men by David Foster Wallace
You can find out more about Sam on her website.
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Jules is an author interested how individuals and organisations use therapeutic practices from ancient philosophies and wisdom traditions today.
His first book, Philosophy for Life and Other Dangerous Situations, explored how people are rediscovering ancient Greek and Roman philosophies and was a Times book of the year. His second book, The Art of Losing Control, was published in the UK in May 2017
JULES'S BOOK CHOICES:
You can find out more about Jules on his website.
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Sharlene Teo was born in Singapore in 1987and has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia, where she received the Booker Prize Foundation Scholarship and the David TK Wong Creative Writing award.
In 2016, she won the inaugural Deborah Rogers Writer's Award for Ponti, her first novel, which is coming out on the 19th of April.
Sharlene's Book Choices:
Things To Make And Break by May-Lan Tan
Nowhere To Be Found by Bae Suah
Dear Friend, From My Life I Write To You In Your Life – Yiyun Li
You can follow Sharlene on twitter @treebirds
Support The Show!
If you haven't already, please consider leaving the podcast a review on iTunes. It makes a massive difference and helps new people discover the show. Also, consider supporting the show by buying one of the books we spoke about today using the links above. We get a small portion of what you spend, which helps keep the show running smoothly.
Johnny Harris is a writer, actor, and producer. His latest film, Jawbone, came out in 2017 and has been nominated for a BAFTA. Johnny has also starred in This is England '86, Welcome to the Punch, London to Brighton, and more. He was BAFTA nominated for his performance in This is England '86.
Johnny's Book Choices:
You can follow Jawbone on twitter @Jawbonethemovie
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Dr Preti Taneja is the author of 'We That Are Young', published by Galley Beggar Press. We that are young was listed as one of the Sunday Times' 'Books of 2017'. She is also the author of a novella 'Kumkum Malhotra' which was published in 2015 and won the Gatehouse Press New Fictions Prize.
As well as being a writer, Preti is a Leverhulme Early Career Reseach Fellow at Warwick University working in the department of English and Comparative Literary Studies, and the Centre for Human Rights in Practice. She is also the co-founder and editor of Visual Verse, an anthology of art and words.
Preti's Book Choices:
You can find out more about Preti by visiting her website. And you can follow her on Twitter @PretiTaneja.